Tom Homan Announces 700 Federal Officers Will Leave Minnesota

Border Czar Tom Homan announced hundreds of federal law enforcement personnel will be pulled out of Minnesota Wednesday ... following weeks of unrest across the state.

At a press conference Wednesday morning, Homan said, "Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration, and as a result of the need for less public safety officers to do this work and a safer environment, I am announcing, effective immediately, we’ll draw down 700 people effective today -- 700 law enforcement personnel."

That's about a quarter of federal officers -- including ICE agents -- deployed throughout Minnesota, according to The Associated Press.

Homan cited "unprecedented" increased cooperation with local and state officials as the reason for the reduction. He said about 2,000 officers will remain in Minnesota.

"My goal with the support of President Trump is to achieve a complete drawdown and end this surge as soon as we can, but that is largely contingent on the end of the illegal and threatening activities against ICE and its federal partners that we’re seeing in the community,” he said, KSTP-TV reports.

Homan described ICE's operations in Minnesota as "very effective as far as public safety goes," adding ... "Was it a perfect operation? No. No. We created one unified chain of command to make sure everybody is on the same page. And make sure we follow the rules. I don’t think anybody, purposely, didn’t do something they should have done."

Thousands of federal agents have been sent to Minnesota since December as part of Operation Metro Surge ... and huge civilian crowds have protested immigration raids across the state amid violent detentions of people, including legal residents and children.

Three people have been shot -- including U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who both died -- in Minneapolis in January by CBP and ICE officers. Good and Pretti were both protesting when they were killed.